Thread: State, job magnet for illegals

http://www.newsok.com/article/2977000

Jose has upholstered airline seats, waited tables and installed Sheetrock in the 14 years since he walked into the United States from Juarez, Mexico.


Now the Oklahoma City man works as a plumber, although his illegal status means he cannot get a license.

"I hear sometimes in the TV that it is hard" to find a job, said Jose, who did not give his last name. "I never have problems."

Almost everyone debating immigration policy agrees jobs are the magnet drawing illegal immigrants into the country: Jobs in construction and agriculture. Jobs in hotels and restaurants. Jobs in meatpacking plants and landscaping

Many illegal immigrants will take difficult or unpleasant jobs for relatively low wages, making it possible for Americans to enjoy cheap goods and services, said David Moxley, a University of Oklahoma professor who studies labor force movement.

"They're not here by mistake," he said. "People want houses built, and they want a bargain."

But after years of looking the other way, two branches of the federal government insist they are serious about ending the job magnet. On the administration side, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stepped up raids and arrests at businesses that hire illegal immigrants. And in Congress, reformers are pinning hopes on technology to do the job.

Carol Helm, founder of Immigration Reform for Oklahoma Now, welcomes any government initiative to deny jobs to illegal immigrants.

"We feel like that's one of the magnets that does encourage illegal aliens to come to Oklahoma. We feel like there should be stronger enforcement," Helm said.

With an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country — at least 50,000 in Oklahoma — Oklahoma City immigration attorney Michael Brooks-Jimenez said the measures are too little, too late.

"I think it's a mountain that can't be climbed. I don't have any confidence it is going to work," he said.

He and many immigrant advocates think stepped-up enforcement without a path to legalization for workers will do little to solve the problem. They say it will drive illegal immigrants deeper into the shadows of a cash-only economy.

The last time
For those who remember the last attempt at immigration reform, talk of cracking down on employers is deja vu all over again.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 made it illegal to knowingly hire illegal immigrants, but by 2004, ICE nearly had abandoned enforcement, issuing only three notices of intent to fine U.S. employers for violations. The share of the ICE budget devoted to workplace enforcement fell from 9 percent in fiscal year 1999 to 4 percent in 2003.

Last summer, Brooks-Jimenez told a group of Oklahoma City employers workplace enforcement was nothing to worry about.

"As far as trying to round anyone up, their focus is mostly on Muslim students who are out of status," he said.

That may be changing. Between January and August, ICE arrested 668 people nationwide on criminal charges during worksite investigations, apprehended 3,147 of their illegal workers, and secured record fines and penalties. It was a wake-up call to American businesses, Stewart Baker, assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security, said in an August speech at the Heritage Foundation.

"Now that arrests and fines are up and people are facing jail time, employers are starting to think twice about hiring illegal workers," he said.

The increased enforcement is just a drop in the bucket considering the millions of illegal immigrants here and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that could employ them.

Homeland Security has a plan for that, too. It wants businesses to police themselves.

What's required now
The 1986 immigration reform law required employers to examine identity and work-authorization documents for each new hire, then certify to the government that the documents appeared genuine and to pertain to the employee.

Miguel Salazar, owner of Salazar Roofing and Construction, goes an extra step and keeps copies of his workers' documents, along with the required Form I-9. But he said he does not really know whether the documents are valid or just good fakes. The system encourages employers not to find out, Brooks-Jimenez said.

"It's kind of a ‘don't ask, don't tell' system," he said. "To find workers to do the job, employers might put blinders on. There's not much incentive to do more." As a result, a huge underground market for counterfeit documents has sprung up, immigration experts say. In Oklahoma City, new arrivals can get fake documents at convenience stores run by immigrants of the same nationality, said Lt. Robert Mercer, head of the Oklahoma City Police bilingual unit.

"You just walk in there and for $400 get a pretty complete set of fake IDs," Mercer said. "That's what gets you a job because all a business has to do is ask you in good faith for your documents. They are not in any way, shape or form required to check your card."

Raymundo, an Oklahoma City man who crossed the border illegally in 1998, does not remember exactly what he paid for his fake documents but said it was less than $100.

When he gets a new job, he shows a "green card" identifying him as a legal permanent resident. It usually takes a year for the government to tell his company the number on the card is invalid, said Raymundo, who did not give his last name. Most employers ask him for a new document (29 are accepted) and the process is repeated, he said. "Yes, I'm scared" of getting caught and deported, Raymundo said in Spanish. But the sheer number of workers doing the same thing gives him hope, he said.

A new plan
Fake documents like Raymundo's are detected quickly at businesses participating in a pilot employment verification program. Employers log onto a government database from any computer with Internet access, enter the new employee's Social Security number and find out — usually in seconds — if he or she is authorized to work. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a sister agency to ICE, rolled out the Basic Pilot Employment Verification Program in 1997 in five high-immigration states and expanded it in 2004 to all 50 states. More than 12,000 businesses nationwide now participate, including 127 in Oklahoma.

In July, ICE went a step further, asking businesses to sign up for a program requiring them to use the verification system and follow nine other "best practices" in exchange for a clean conscience and possible corporate prestige.

The next step is up to Congress. Both House and Senate immigration bills this session contained language making the verification program mandatory for all — a provision business lobbyists helped kill when the pilot program was established in 1996.

Will businesses accept the responsibility now? Brooks-Jimenez does not think so.

Three workers
Three Oklahoma City men told The Oklahoman they crossed the border illegally for the opportunity to work at jobs that pay much more than they could make in Mexico

Jose

Job in Mexico: Drove a truck

Pay: 3 pesos per trip, about 27 cents

U.S. jobs: Upholstery, Sheetrock, plumber and others.

Pay: About $500 per week

Raymundo

Job in Mexico: Electrician

Pay: 120 pesos per day, about $11

U.S. jobs: Day laborer, carpenter, mechanic

Pay: $8 to $10 per hour

Juan Carlos

Job in Mexico: Cashier

Pay: 900 pesos a week, about $100

U.S. job: Waiter

Pay: $6 to $10 per hour

"I hear sometimes in the TV that it is hard" to find a job, said Jose, who did not give his last name. "I never have problems."

The reason he has NO PROBLEMS finding those jobs is because the company hiring his illegal butt does NOT have to provide any kind of benefits to him. The companies come out much better when they can hire an illegal. If he were a LEGAL American citizen, then he would understand how hard it is to find a job anymore, especially in construction or manufacturing. Send him back where he came from, he's taking a job from an American who needs it!

Originally Posted by jump_start

"I hear sometimes in the TV that it is hard" to find a job, said Jose, who did not give his last name. "I never have problems."

The reason he has NO PROBLEMS finding those jobs is because the company hiring his illegal butt does NOT have to provide any kind of benefits to him. The companies come out much better when they can hire an illegal. If he were a LEGAL American citizen, then he would understand how hard it is to find a job anymore, especially in construction or manufacturing. Send him back where he came from, he's taking a job from an American who needs it!

Amen jump_start, and welcome to ALIPAC!!!

Originally Posted by jump_start

Originally Posted by Jose

"I hear sometimes in the TV that it is hard" to find a job, said Jose, who did not give his last name. "I never have problems."

The reason he has NO PROBLEMS finding those jobs is because the company hiring his illegal butt does NOT have to provide any kind of benefits to him. The companies come out much better when they can hire an illegal. If he were a LEGAL American citizen, then he would understand how hard it is to find a job anymore, especially in construction or manufacturing. Send him back where he came from, he's taking a job from an American who needs it!

But the benefits are not free. American taxpayers pick up the tab for his medical care, education, transportation, military defense, roads, bridges, auto insurance, law enforcement, incarceration and often food & shelter. If these scofflaws were required to pay those things like Americans, they would have none left over to send to their kids in Mexico. Don't ever forget all that money sent home to Jose's kids rightfully belonged to your kids, compliments of a liberal government. But Jose worked hard for it, right?

Tom2,

Welcome to ALIPAC!!!

I recognize your signature line from ChronWatch!

Glad to have you aboard!!!

Damn, you've been here longer than I have!!!

And I thought I might have had something to do with your presence.

How presumptuous of me!

I'm still VERY GLAD you're here!!!

Originally Posted by PinestrawGuys

Damn, you've been here longer than I have!!!

And I thought I might have had something to do with your presence.

How presumptuous of me!

I'm still VERY GLAD you're here!!!

TOM's a good ole fighter, PINE :P

.

I know he makes good sense at ChronWatch!!!

In my very young days I DELIVERED that rag!!!

Originally Posted by PinestrawGuys

I know he makes good sense at ChronWatch!!!

In my very young days I DELIVERED that rag!!!

Are you looking for a particular type of punishment to go along with your admission of guilt?